


An Unconventional Meeting

by Sassy_assassin



Series: Corporate Affairs [1]
Category: Borderlands, Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: AU where Jack doesn't die but Rhys still becomes CEO of Atlas, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Atlas CEO Rhys, Fiona is a vault hunter, Jealous Jack, M/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-03
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-08-12 16:52:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7941952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sassy_assassin/pseuds/Sassy_assassin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhys and Handsome Jack are rival CEOs with a friend with benefits relationship, but when Rhys starts talking to an employee from Maliwan, Jack isn't too happy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Unconventional Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> This is just something I wrote to try and feel like I finished something while working on a much longer fic for these two. I just really love when they're both CEOs, especially Atlas CEO Rhys. Haven't written a lot for these characters, so if you like it or have any constructive criticism please leave a comment. Also, I would like to thank my friend Chloe, who is always so encouraging, and happy to read my fics.

“I swear if we get caught Jack, this is on you.” Rhys pointed an accusatory finger at Jack, who simply smirked back at him.

“I thought you were on me.” Jack wiggled his eyebrows as Rhys huffed in exasperation, his breath hitching as Jack nipped at his neck. He could feel Jack’s breath on him as he laughed at Rhys’s reaction.

“J-jack, seriously. We’re going to get caught,” Rhys pleaded, no actual conviction behind it. Jack pressed himself against Rhys, rolling his hips just so to elicit a moan from Rhys.

“Not if someone stays quiet.”

“I’d be able to stay quiet if we were doing what we were supposed to be doing,” Rhys hissed. Jack sighed, stepping back from the younger man. Rhys bit back a whine at the loss of contact, already regretting his decision to get Jack to stop.

“You mean hash out some deal that will appease the board?” Jack replied, his tone indicating how boring he thought the idea was.

“Yes.” Rhys walked over to his desk, where papers were scattered across it. “I know that Hyperion has been having some...PR issues,” Rhys said carefully, noting the way Jack’s jaw clenched.

“What exactly are you getting out of this deal Rhysie boy?” Jack asked, his voice distinctly less happy than he’d been a moment ago. “Unless you just want to get with the man in charge, which case you only need to ask,” Jack grinned, an amused lilt entering his voice. Rhys blushed, not sure why he always got so flustered around Jack. One would think that once he started having sex with the rival CEO in secret, that he wouldn’t be so easily embarrassed by the man.

“It’s not-...Hyperion is the leading tech manufacturer, and well it would be an honor, er...I mean it would be smart, to align ourselves with you.” Rhys rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Jack snorted, causing Rhys’s blush to darken.

“Someone’s a fan.” Jack leaned towards Rhys again, crowding the younger man against his desk. Rhys swallowed, as Jack’s face leaned down towards his own. Rhys could feel his resolve weaken and knew he was a second away from doing something very stupid. The smell of gunpowder and whiskey caused his mind to swim, while the only thought going through his head was ‘fuck it’. Rhys tilted his head up to capture Jack’s mouth, as his hands grabbed Jack’s shirt to pull him closer. Rhys’s eyes closed and he could feel the smile on Jack’s lips as he felt strong arms encompass him. Rhys made a noise of surprise as he was lifted into the air and placed onto the desk.

The slam of a door startled them both, Jack stepping back slightly from Rhys in surprise as somebody walked in. Upon seeing who it was Rhys swore quietly, quickly tidying himself up and brushing his hair back with his hand. The person cleared their throat loudly as they crossed their arms in clear judgement.

“Uh...Fiona...wh-what’s up?” Rhys asked, trying to tuck his shirt back in inconspicuously. Fiona glared at him, while Jack rolled his eyes.

“Look, I don’t want to know what’s going on, I’m just here for my pay.” She put her hand out as if waiting for Rhys to give her something.

“O-oh! Right. Yeah.” Rhys turned around, rustling for something in a pile near his desk. He seriously needed to tidy up his office. He caught Jack staring pointedly at his ass, glaring at him before handing Fiona’s payment to her. “Here you go.”

“What is this?” Fiona asked, unimpressed by the small item in her hand.

“It’s a new upgrade for your gun. It’ll allow you to combine elemental effects now,” Rhys explained. Fiona looked at it again, smirking at it.

“Yeah ok, but you still owe me lunch. Taking out that bandit camp was a serious headache.”

“Deal.”

“Ok, you got your payment, can we hurry it up sweetcheeks. Rhysie and I were in the middle of something,” Jack said, an edge to his voice. Rhys smacked him on the arm, as Fiona narrowed her eyes at the two. Jack glared at Rhys in warning, but Rhys ignored him. Fiona watched the exchange and then turned her attention back to Rhys, ignoring Jack’s statement completely.

“Is there some kind of celebration going on?” she asked, jerking her thumb towards the door behind her.

“Company party,” Rhys answered. Fiona raised an eyebrow at him, flicking her eyes to Jack. Jack caught the look and grinned at her.

“And this here’s a company meeting,” Jack smirked as Fiona pulled her lips back in disgust. She shook her head and started walking away, not even bothering to say goodbye. “Merc?” Jack asked tilting his head to where Fiona had disappeared.

“Vault hunter...and a friend,” Rhys replied, adding the friend part when Jack’s face became dark. Rhys knew that the man had some kind of vendetta against vault hunters, but Fiona wouldn’t be a problem. She was an old friend since before he was CEO, and she'd just been doing some odd jobs for him lately, hence her earlier interruption.

Jack seemed to brush his thoughts on the matter away as he crowded Rhys back up against his desk. “Now…” Jack’s voice dropped low, “where were we?” Jack grinned, leaning back down towards Rhys. Rhys stopped him with a hand on his chest, and Jack looked down at it confused.

“We should get back to the party. Vaughn’s going to wonder where I am and come looking soon,” Rhys said, not looking at Jack. He didn’t really want to go back to the party, but people would start to notice if the two of them were missing for too long. Sure, Rhys had technically ditched the party for business matters, but he knew what he was doing when he invited Jack back to his office alone. But, he also knew that Jack would never let anyone know about their other, less professional, arrangement. Not that it bothered Rhys. Ok, it did, but he would never let Jack know that. How would it look if the CEOs of the two biggest rival tech companies were getting together on the sly?

Rhys knew it was stupid, but he still got slightly giddy every time he knew he was going to see Jack at some meeting or other. Apparently, he’d never quite gotten over his crush on the older CEO since his college days, no matter what he’d told Vaughn. Having Jack actually notice him, and then take an interest in him, had been a dream come true. And Rhys was perfectly happy with their current arrangement. Perfectly. Happy.

“That buff nerd?” Jack said, leveling a bored look at Rhys. Rhys narrowed his eyes at the older man.

“His name is Vaughn,” Rhys asserted. “And he will come looking for me.”

“Mmm...well how about we give him a show?” Jack winked, causing a blush to form on Rhys’s cheeks. Rhys was taken aback at the comment though. He knew that Jack was joking, but to even joke about someone finding them together was surprising. Jack had made it very clear that no one was to ever know about them when they'd first started doing, whatever it was they were doing.

Rhys stood up, already heading back towards the party. He wasn’t going to let Jack pull him down into this again. At least, not right now. Jack followed, sighing as he realized that Rhys was serious about returning to the party.

The two returned to the Atlas company party, only for Rhys to be cornered by Vaughn. “There you are! I was worried that he’d tried to kill you,” Vaughn exclaimed, his eyes roaming over Rhys for any signs of injury while Jack rolled his eyes and wandered away. Rhys felt self-conscious, hoping that he’d fixed his appearance enough to fool him. Vaughn seemed satisfied as he looked back up at Rhys asking, “So, does that mean the deal went well?”

“We still need to talk some things over,” Rhys lied, knowing that he and Jack had barely talked about the deal at all. Vaughn frowned, looking over at the other CEO, who was currently glaring at some poor Atlas employee who had made the mistake of bumping into him. Rhys rubbed at the back of his neck, “It uh, is kind of hard to talk to him.” Vaughn nodded in understanding, while Rhys thought about how that statement was true in more ways than one. Rhys watched as the Atlas employee that had run into Jack shrank back from the man in fear, reminding himself to try and talk to Jack later about terrorizing his employees. His eyes roamed the room, noticing that most of the employees from the other companies were just business executives. Or at least, that’s what they looked like. They certainly weren’t the CEOs. Jack being the only other CEO wasn't too suspicious however, the man had a reputation for being pretty hands on when it came to running Hyperion. Rhys tried to ignore the small voice in his head reminding him of just what else Jack had his hands on earlier, instead turning to survey the room. Rhys noticed one of the Maliwan execs walking towards him and looked around for a way out, but Vaughn had already disappeared, and Jack had seemed to be avoiding him ever since they walked back into the party. Rhys sighed, putting on a smile to greet the approaching employee.

The other company executives were invited so that Rhys could show off Atlas's new headquarters, a decision he was close to regretting as he was forced to listen to another Maliwan exec talk about how they could benefit from a business partnership. Something he was not interested in in the least, because Atlas was doing just fine in the elemental weapons department, thank you very much. He tried to extricate himself from the conversation by telling the man he'd think about it, only to be stopped by the man asking if he wanted a drink.

“I'm sorry, what?” Rhys asked, not sure if he'd heard right. The party was pretty loud after all.

“Uh, would you like a drink?” The Maliwan employee asked, this time with less confidence.

Rhys looked at the other man, noting that he wasn't terrible looking, in fact he was kind of attractive. Sure, he worked for Maliwan, but it wasn't like Rhys was going to marry the man. Plus, a drink would be nice. His thoughts flickered back to Jack, and Rhys quickly spotted the man looking bored as some exec talked to him. It's not like he and Rhys were actually together. Rhys turned back to the Maliwan executive, who was still waiting on his answer, and replied, “Sure.”

The Maliwan exec smiled and went off to get him a drink, and Rhys briefly thought about how he should figure out what the guy's name was, before the man in question reappeared.

“Hey, I never got your name,” Rhys stated as the other man flushed slightly.

“Shit, sorry. It's Lucas.” Lucas held his hand out. Rhys shook it.

“Rhys.”

“I know who you are, I think everyone does,” Lucas laughed. “I mean you're like the youngest CEO around, and you managed to turn Atlas's profits around in no time. Honestly, I know I shouldn't be saying this, but you're really giving us a run for our money.”

“Uh, thanks,” Rhys replied, surprised at the comment. He took a sip of the drink that Lucas had brought over, and finding it really good, continued to drink it while Lucas talked about how impressed he was with the new Atlas facilities.

They had been talking for the past twenty minutes or so, Lucas telling Rhys some story about his first days at Maliwan, when Rhys felt eyes on him. He turned around to see Jack glaring at him, looking as if he was about to murder somebody. Rhys didn't know what his problem was, but he found that he didn't particularly care at the moment. He was enjoying himself, and Lucas knew just the right way to compliment him, so Rhys was perfectly content with ignoring Jack for whatever Lucas was currently saying. A couple seconds later he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Lucas stiffen, going quiet. Rhys frowned, knowing exactly who it was, and turned to face Jack. Jack wasn't looking at him however, his eyes were locked threateningly with Lucas's. Finally, he broke eye contact to look at Rhys, his expression still angry.

“That deal. I've decided to take it,” Jack abruptly said, throwing Rhys off guard. They hadn't even talked about the deal, Jack wouldn't even know what's on it.

“Jack-”

“Yeah, yeah, you're excited to work with me, your idol. I get it, I'm awesome.”

Rhys gave him a weird look, unsure what the other CEO was going on about. He saw Jack turn his attention back to Lucas again.

“Get out of here Maliwan. I have to talk to Atlas here,” Jack snarled, causing Lucas to pale and quickly stand up. Rhys gave Lucas an apologetic look before turning to glare at the other man.

“What is your problem Jack?” Rhys snapped, unhappy at the interruption. Jack simply glared at him, while realization dawned on Rhys. Was Jack...jealous? “Jack I was just having a drink with him, I wasn’t going to sleep with him,” Rhys huffed, unsure why it even mattered if he did want to sleep with the man. Jack didn’t have any kind of claim on him, they weren’t together. Jack looked downright furious at Rhys’s words though, and something dark flashed in his eyes.

“I don’t like sharing,” Jack growled, grabbing Rhys’s shirt to pull him closer, crashing their mouths together in a kiss. It was far from gentle, but that was nothing new, and Rhys instinctively closed his eyes. He could hear the dead silence in the room, and opened his eyes to look at Jack. The older man was grinning, seeming to not care how every pair of eyes were on them. Rhys felt like his face was on fire. How would he ever face his employees again? His eyes locked with Vaughn’s, whose were as wide as saucers, his mouth agape before pressing it into a frown. He could practically feel the judgement rolling off of Vaughn, realizing that he was still pressed up against Jack, his arms holding onto Jack’s own. Rhys looked down, not sure where else to look while Jack frowned at him, before turning to face the rest of the room. “What the hell are you all looking at?” he yelled, jumping everyone into forced motion. They still threw unsubtle glances at the pair, but weren’t outright staring anymore. Rhys swallowed, making up his mind. He wasn’t going to let Jack embarrass him in front of his own employees. No, two could play at this game.

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t terrorize my employees Jack,” Rhys said, placing his hands on the man’s coat to bring him closer. He smirked at Jack’s slightly surprised look. If they were going to make a scene, then so be it. Jack’s shocked look turned into a feral grin.

“Ooh look at who’s the big bad CEO now, giving me orders,” Jack said, but Rhys could tell he wasn’t angry. Rhys hummed in response, pulling himself away from Jack, who seemed unhappy at the loss of contact, but stilled as Rhys leaned down to whisper in his ear.

“How about we continue our earlier talk...about our new business partnership,” Rhys whispered, loud enough that anyone around them could probably hear. Jack’s eyes widened, a smile splitting his face.

Rhys started to walk towards his office, knowing that everyone was watching as the pair exited the room. He was going to regret this later when he had to walk these hallways tomorrow, and look his employees in the eye, but right now he couldn’t bring himself to care.

As soon as they were in Rhys’s office, Jack pressed him up against the wall, his mouth hungrily attacking Rhys’s own. Rhys smiled into the kiss, his hands grabbing at Jack’s jacket. Jack pulled away after a few seconds, as Rhys attempted to catch his breath.

“You’re mine,” Jack growled, but Rhys could hear the uncertainty in his voice. Rhys smiled at that, pleased that he had such an effect on the older CEO.

“And you’re mine,” Rhys replied, knowing just how much it had bothered Jack that he’d been with the Maliwan executive earlier. Jack grinned at him, kissing him again, but more gently this time. No, Rhys might regret his earlier actions, but right now he was perfectly content to not think about the consequences until tomorrow.


End file.
